Plans
by EleanorPalimore
Summary: Katherine's back in town, and she needs some helpers to carry out her diabolical plans. This is just after The Return and was borne out of my wishful thinking that Pearl and Anna would somehow return to TVD!


Anna heard John Gilbert's voice. She felt herself wake, barely, her body and mind weighed down by the loathsome vervain. Her sluggish hand found John's leg, and she stared up at him pleadingly, desperately. Was there a single speck of guilt or sympathy in him? Anna couldn't see any. His eyes were cold, distant. She was only a monster, she thought bitterly, to him. To most every human in Mystic Falls. She and her mother should have left while they were both still… John was wielding a stake.  
>"Please." She felt a spasm of shame pass through her petrified body. Begging for her life? Her mother would never have done that. John Gilbert had killed her too. And he was kneeling down, now, looking satisfied, almost… gleeful. Of course he was. The 'vampire menace' had been dealt with. "No," Anna stuttered. His hands plunged, and in them, the stake – piercing her chest, her heart. Before her eyes, the basement room started fading. She knew Damon was there, somewhere nearby. Had John staked him too?<p>

When Anna next knew conscious thought, it was darker than ever before, and she was no longer in the basement. She could feel pain. The dry ache of blood-hunger tore her stomach. She flexed her fingers experimentally. She'd been staked. And somehow she had survived it. Raising her hand curiously, she stared at it for a moment. She had her jewellery still; her bracelet, her rings. Her sleeve was charred. She attempted to raise her head. She was in a musty, dingy motel room, on the bed. Standing by the window, gazing out at the rapidly dimming sky was the most welcome and familiar face she'd ever seen. Her mother. Pearl. Alive and well, her expression wistful. Anna choked and spluttered in her haste to speak.  
>"Momma!" she stammered.<br>"Annabelle," Pearl whispered, at her side in an instant. "Oh, you're all right." She put her arms around Anna, firm and curiously warm. She'd evidently just fed. Anna held onto her tightly, abandoning all self-control and sobbing into her mother's shoulder – they were both alive. Somehow.  
>"Momma, how…?" she asked, in a subdued tone. "I was staked. And… so were you."<br>"Katherine," Pearl said, with a grimace. She seemed wary. "Emily's loyalty only went so far, apparently, but she was good enough to devise a means of protecting us. I will say more, later. You need to feed." Pearl disentangled herself from Anna's weak arms and fetched a bottle of cold blood from the table. "Katherine is… running errands, in town," she said, over her shoulder.  
>"What is she up to, Momma?" Anna demanded, suddenly apprehensive. She couldn't be trusted. The whole tomb affair had taught her that.<br>"Don't be too hard on her, Annabelle." Pearl's voice was still gentle, but now more authoritative. "She brought us back together." She opened the bottle and held it to her daughter's mouth. "Now, drink. We have things to do." Anna hesitated, but then took the blood and began to gulp it down. She trusted her mother. She wondered where the Salvatores were. Where Elena… where Jeremy was. She didn't want to miss him, but she did. Would he be mourning her death? Moving on? Or had John Gilbert poisoned him completely?  
>"Miss Pearl." Harper's voice, softly, in the doorway. "I have those things you asked for."<br>"Harper!" Anna exclaimed, sitting up. The blood rushed through her, rejuvenating her every system, coursing through her veins and sharpening her senses. Harper smiled at her, a little sadly.  
>"Miss Annabelle," he said, with a slight bow.<br>"Well, now that everyone's here, let's get started, shall we?" Katherine asked, striding into the centre of the room. Anna, Pearl, and Harper all turned to look at her. Radiant and commanding as ever, she smiled. "We have work to do."

Pearl sat on the edge of the sunken bed, gazing at the greying wall of the dingy motel room. Anna had chosen to accompany Harper into Mystic Falls; they were both relatively unknown there, and Pearl had a feeling they were both glad to get away from Katherine.  
>"Don't you look glum," Katherine remarked, from her seat by the window. She was preening. Pearl had seen her do it so many times before – brushing her hair slowly, applying make-up, smiling at her reflection. She was making herself look more like Elena Gilbert. And practising 'Elena' expressions in her small mirror.<br>"I still don't understand," Pearl said, sighing. "Why would you come back – for him?"  
>"Because he's mine," Katherine replied, snapping the compact shut. "Because I want him and I get what I want. And because we have unfinished business here. Getting Stefan back is only half of what I want to achieve." She looked sharply at Pearl. "You… are with me on this, aren't you, Pearl?" Pearl had enough sense to nod.<br>"And why resurrect me? Anna? Harper?" she asked carefully.  
>"Oh Pearl," Katherine said, laughing. "We're best friends, aren't we? I couldn't let John get away with murdering you like that." She paused. "You're smart. It's easy to be strong and demand everything, but what we're doing – it takes brains and cunning. Your little Annabelle apparently knows everything and everyone in Mystic Falls, and she's quite the little spy. All three of us together, how could we fail?"<br>"Harper?" Pearl prompted.  
>"A lady should never be without an escort," Katherine said, with a wicked smile.<br>"How do you know that Stefan will be persuaded to come back to you?" Pearl asked.  
>"I don't." For the first time, Katherine looked angry – and uncertain. "He has a new… love." She almost spat the word. "And she may as well be me. But that's how I know he's still mine." Her eyes shone dangerously. "Why else would he be with someone who looks SO much like me? All he needs is a little convincing. His new sweetheart is so fragile and human. She'll be useful in her own way… I have plans for her, too. But for now, it's Stefan I want. If I can keep Damon out of the way, it shouldn't be too difficult to get close to Stefan." She stood up. "You really do look miserable, Pearl."<br>"Anna was already killed once," Pearl said tightly. "I don't like that she's out in Mystic Falls… where the Founding families are constantly keeping an eye out for any wandering vampire to stake."  
>"Don't worry. John's not going to be a problem for a while," Katherine said. She re-opened her compact mirror and beamed at herself. "And your little girl has a few friends in this treacherous little town. Jeremy Gilbert, for example." Pearl's expression betrayed her abhorrence of this idea. Katherine laughed. "Come and hunt with me. I get so bored <em>waiting<em> for things." Pearl hesitated before standing up. So much had changed between them – and yet, once again, she found herself at Katherine's beck and call.  
>"Away from town?" Pearl suggested. "We can't know who's been given vervain in our absence."<br>"All right," Katherine trilled. She linked her arm through Pearl's, looking for all the world an innocent seventeen-year-old girl. Only her strong, unrelenting grip on her friend's arm gave her away. She was in high spirits; as they left the motel she talked and laughed and danced along, trying to instil the same enthusiasm in Pearl. It was rapidly darkening outside. Pearl wondered where Anna was… whom she was with.


End file.
